BRIT BOY'S GUN TERROR

How do you tell an eight-year-old that his six-year-old brother is dead and not coming back

Nicole

Eight-year-old Jake Hockley was at school and heard the gunshots, but his distraught mum cannot bear to tell him brother Dylan was murdered.

Nicole sobbed: “How do you tell an eight-year-old that his six-year-old brother is dead and not coming back?”

Dylan was among 27 victims – 20 of them children – in the massacre on Friday when twisted Adam Lanza ran amok at an infants’ school.

Sobbing gran Theresa Moretti revealed little Jake heard the sickening sounds of the attack as he cowered in a neighbouring classroom. He was forced to hide in silence as the psycho pumped his victims’ tiny bodies with up to 11 machine gun bullets each.

Lanza, 20, turned his gun on himself the second police arrived, suggesting he may have planned an even more deadly massacre had they not arrived so quickly.

The Goth loner’s victims included hero teacher Victoria Soto, 27, who threw herself in front of her class to protect them.

Dylan and Jake lived almost opposite the killer and his mother Nancy in Newtown, Connecticut, after moving there from Hampshire two years ago.

They were both pupils at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Heartbroken Theresa said: “On Friday I was out buying Christmas presents for Dylan and Jake.

“I got a garbled message on my answerphone from my daughter. She was almost incoherent.

“I called her back and she told me what had happened. She kept saying: ‘Mum, how do you tell an eight-year-old his six-year-old brother is dead and not coming back?’

“Jake heard the gunfire that killed his brother. The family isn’t doing well. They have not seen Dylan yet.

“They are making funeral arrangements and waiting for his little body to be released to the funeral home.

“Why did he have to shoot 20 innocent babies? They were only six and seven years old.”

Mum Nicole was born in Rhode Island but spent 18 years in England, marrying her British husband Ian in Norwich in 1993.

They had settled in scenic Newtown, an hour’s drive from New York, because they “felt happy and comfortable” there.

Mr Hockley, who works for IBM in New York, returned home to Eastleigh just last week to finalise the sale of the family’s old house.

Theresa added: “Dylan was a lovely boy. He had dimples and blue eyes and a mischievous grin. He loved playing Wii and they had a trampoline in their garden.

“He loved his brother. We are shattered and will never be the same.

“When I spoke to Nicole, I said: ‘Do you know the man? Did you know the mother?’ She said: ‘No, I saw them but never spoke to them. I didn’t know them. I didn’t know there was a killer in my street.”

Yesterday the family’s former neighbour in Britain Maria Sweet, 81, told of her “broken heart” after learning of Dylan’s death.

The retired nanny, who lived next door to the Hockleys for nine years, said she recognised the youngster’s “lovely smile” straight away on TV.

“He was such a lovely little boy and very intelligent too, he really enjoyed school.

“He was always outside on my front garden playing with his big brother.

“I would often offer him a drink and some biscuits and he’d come up to me and give me a cuddle.

“He was always so polite, too. Every Christmas I would get him some chocolates and he never failed to thank me for them.”

Maria still has cards from Dylan and his brother, including one reading: “Dear Mrs Sweet, thank you so much for the chocolate bars. We love chocolate.

“We hope you had a nice Christmas and Happy New Year and hope to see you again soon.”

Thousands of tributes have flooded a Facebook page dedicated to the little lad, which features a snap of him posing as Superman.

Yesterday President Obama flew to Newtown to attend a candle-lit vigil for the victims, as their names and pictures continued to emerge.

All the children were first-graders, aged just six or seven.

Seven adults were also gunned down, including six women who worked at the school and Lanza’s own mother.

Speaking at a press conference, medic Wayne Carver said the injuries were “the worst he’d seen” in 30 years.

He said each of the victims had been shot between three and 11 times, two at very close range.

He revealed parents had been allowed to identify their children through pictures in order to minimise the shock.

Dr Carver’s expert team of 10 technicians and four doctors have worked through the nights since Friday to perform post-mortem examinations on the dead.

He said crazed Lanza was able to reload quickly because he had taped two magazines together.

The gunman mainly used a military-style assault rifle belonging to his mother, an avid firearm collector who taught him how to shoot.

Nancy, 54, was found dead at her home on Friday morning after being shot in the face.

Her ex husband Peter, dad of Adam, yesterday put out an emotional statement.

The 52-year-old, a tax director for GE Energy, learned the horrific news only when approached by reporters.

He said: “Our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones and to all those injured.

“Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy.

“No words can truly express how heartbroken we are.”

Meanwhile police are battling to find a motive, focusing on evidence uncovered at the £1m family home.

The violent computer game obsessive reportedly rowed with four staff members at the school the day before his rampage.

Three lost their lives in the massacre, while a fourth was off work and is now being interviewed by police for clues as to Lanza’s state of mind.

The killer was remembered by former classmates yesterday as a “ticking time bomb” who was painfully shy and had Asperger’s Syndrome.